Two dead and three missing, is the provisional toll of a tragic bus accident in the Pontevedra municipality of Cerdedo-Cotobade. In a few moments, work resumed for the search and rescue of the other passengers on board the bus, which crashed into the Lérez River from a bridge on the N-541, in Pedre.
The works had to be suspended in the afternoon-night of yesterday Saturday due to the bad conditions: a high flow rate of the river, a lot of current and a water level inside the bus that was already touching the roof of the vehicle.
Before interrupting the rescue efforts, the rescue teams managed to rescue four people, two of whom died. Among the survivors, the bus driver and one of the passengers.
However, there were more people on the bus, so in a few minutes Pedre, the firefighters and members of the emergency groups will return to the scene to continue the search. More means and resources will probably be added, because it will certainly be necessary to inspect the riverbed and its banks.
It is a tragic accident, which coincides with the celebration of Christmas Eve, and which requires a very complex rescue operation, as occurred in the first hours of the accident: a lifeline (a device used by firefighters that high-seated) managed to get off the bus driver and a passenger. It should be noted that the vehicle went off the road and fell from the bridge about 40 meters high. This, added to the adverse weather conditions and the maximum flow of the river, has increasingly complicated the tasks of the emergency teams.
However, they managed to get four people out, though not all of them alive. The two people who escaped alive have already been evacuated to the Hospital Clínico de Santiago and Montecelo, in Pontevedra.
A first alert call to 112 Galicia
Those responsible for 112 Galicia received information about the accident 19 minutes after nine last night. The first call answered is from an informant who observes the completely destroyed highway crash barrier and assures that this could only happen if a vehicle fell into it. However, he leaned over and saw nothing, but it looked like something recent, so she told him to keep looking. With these data, the managers of the Galicia Integrated Emergency Assistance Center have activated the corresponding protocols for the mobilization of the following resources: Deza Fire Brigade, A Estrada GES, Galicia-061 Health Emergencies, Local Civil Protection, Guardia Civil de Tráfico, maintenance personnel from the Ministry of Public Works as owner of the road and, in pre-alert, the Pontevedra Fire Brigade, who, shortly after, joined the bomb.
A second call from inside the bus
With these actions already underway, 112 Galicia receives new calls to alert about the accident. This time, from inside the bus. In this way, new data, such as that one, has become known the Monbus company vehicle made the journey between Monterroso and Vigo, and that after falling into the river the hut began to fill with water. Little could be specified about the total number of passengers, between six and eight.
Despite this, the operation was underway and the rescue efforts made it possible to locate four people, two of whom were lifeless.
Now, the work is focused on continuing to search, so it’s possible that more specialized media will approach them.
